By Staff Report Thursday, May 26th, 2016

Goleta-based Deckers Brands beat quarterly revenue estimates but still posted a loss of 73 cents per share when the company reported fourth quarter and fiscal year 2016 earnings results May 26 as unseasonably warm weather ate into profit margins.

Deckers’ sales increased 11 percent during the quarter from $340.6 million in 2015 to $378.6 million in 2016. Analyst estimates were for revenue of $362 million, according to S&P Capital IQ.

But earnings per share decreased from 4 cents per share in 2015 to a net loss of 73 cents per share during the same quarter in 2016. During the quarter the company posted a loss of $23.7 million, down from net income of $1.4 million.

Deckers full-year revenues also increased from $1.82 billion in 2015 to $1.88 billion in 2016. Earnings per share dropped from $4.70 per share in 2015 to $3.76 in 2016. Net income fell from $161.8 million to $122.3 million.

The company blamed the decrease on unseasonably warm weather during January, February and March, which hurt sales of Ugg boots.

“Fiscal 2016 was a challenging year for the brand,” CEO Angel Martinez said in a quarterly earnings call May 26.

The company also announced Martinez will retire May 31 and Deckers President Dave Powers will take over as CEO. Powers is an industry veteran who’s served in various roles at Nike, Timberland and Gap prior to joining Deckers in June 2012. Martinez will remain chairman of the board.

The company said in the earnings call that it expects sales to remain flat or decrease about 3 percent in 2017 because of warm weather that is expected again during the upcoming winter. Sales are expected to decrease 20 to 25 percent during the first quarter.

• Contact Philip Joens at [email protected].